I read articles by dentists with a grain of salt and that is not for my oral health. No, like most things posted on the Internet there is an inescapable commercial element to them. Dental clinics put stuff up online to promote their services. This has a name; it is called content marketing and it is popular with the oral healthcare sector. There is nothing nefarious about this it is a fact of modern life. Are your missing teeth making your oral health worse? Sounds like a loaded question to me but one well worth exploring, just the same, as there are plenty of people in this camp.

Do Missing Teeth Contribute To A Worsening Oral Care Outcome?

I will put my hand up here and confess that I know someone, a dear friend, who has a number of missing teeth. He has not been blessed with robust teeth and, perhaps, did not look after his natural teeth when he was a kid. Too much sugar, too many sweets and a wilful personality. This, I would guess, is not an uncommon story, as there are plenty of toothless dragons out there in the real world. A blend of youthful stupidity and economic necessity, as these folk got older and found dental care pricey. Cause going to the dentist can cost an arm and a leg.

Extraction Or A Crowning Expense?

The end result can be sitting in that dental chair with mouth wide open. Our troubled patient is faced with a difficult decision. The expensive vagaries of root canal therapy and crowns or extraction? Neither is cheap but root canal/crown can cost thousands of dollars. Plus, there is no guarantee the thing will hold for any length of time depending upon the situation. Many poorer folk choose the cheaper option. The question, then becomes – are your missing teeth making your oral health worse? This is because every course of action has consequences and in the dental realm this is no exception. The remaining teeth left to carry the load suffer from what engineers call structural integrity issues.

The Structural Ramifications Of Missing Teeth

In a perfect world or perfect mouth arches of strong white teeth are bridges to primate paradise on earth. A missing tooth causes a local effect upon its neighbouring teeth. They can shift about to cover that space somewhat. Terms like mesial or distal drifting, and supra-eruption may plague the oral cavity. Bitewing refers to the film used by the dental X-rays and it will reveal the shifting state of the patient’s bite in the case of missing teeth. The sad truth is, that, as the number of missing teeth grow the statistical health outcomes plummet for these patients.

“In the meta-analysis, our findings confirmed the positive relationship between tooth loss and susceptibility to all-cause mortality, but not for circulatory mortality. However, the finding that tooth loss might play a harmful role in the development of all-cause mortality remains inconclusive. Tooth loss may be a potential risk marker for all-cause mortality: however, their association must be further validated through large prospective studies.”
– Peng J, Song J, Han J, Chen Z, Yin X, Zhu J, Song J. The relationship between tooth loss and mortality from all causes, cardiovascular diseases, and coronary heart disease in the general population: systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. Biosci Rep. 2019

My friend has lost some 4 or 5 teeth and this is the marker, which can tip one over the edge onto a fast track for likely demise. I worry about my friend and the future for him.

“In 1993, a study conducted by A. Van Der Bilt et al. concluded that there is a significant difference in chewing efficiency and performance between patients with missing post canine teeth and a control group with complete dentitions, especially when missing more than five (5) teeth. Nutrition is a key aspect of overall physical health, and missing teeth along with decreased chewing capacity can result in patients not getting the required nutrition from different categories of food. This, in turn, affects their overall mood and physical health. “
– Dental News

Sinking Your Teeth Into Life

Are your missing teeth making your oral health worse? The psychological consequences of tooth loss cannot be ignored either. We grit our teeth, take the bit between the teeth, bite into life, and give one’s eye teeth for something. Teeth may be smallish, hard and hidden away in our mouth but they pack a bigger psychological punch than most other superficial parts of our body. Indeed, they are much more than the cosmetic smile so enamoured of by dental marketing campaigns. Our bite function is deeply linked to our primate animal nature. Tearing into a beef steak, with apologies to vegetarians, is a primal macho experience. It is more than just eating. You cannot do this without healthy strong teeth. You cannot bite and chew a steak with too many missing teeth. It is a sad fact of life and it diminishes one somewhat, according to my friend. The zest for life is extinguished somewhat. It is, perhaps, all part of getting old, but some dentists might say that this is overly defeatist. Can technology fill the breech left by broken rotten teeth extracted?

Tinned Soup & The Woes Of Missing Teeth

Are your missing teeth making your oral health worse? I found myself wandering in the canned soup aisle of my local supermarket after some root canal therapy had left me bruised and very sore. Firstly, I was shocked that a can of soup was now $4.50. Inflation had wrung the scrawny neck of frugal living, it seemed. I noticed several elderly couples shopping around me and thought about their physically constrained need for such items. I reassessed my own state of physical grace and realised that we are all on the same bus and that it is going to the terminus. Cheery thoughts under the artificially bright lights of one of our favourite duopoly supermarket chains.

False Teeth Or Dental Implants?

There are no easy answers when it comes to available options for the toothless among us. False teeth are getting better, although they still come with associations of teeth in glasses of water on bedstands seen in the movies. A dying of the light for delusions of sexy romantic fantasies in the minds of some. These will set you back several thousand dollars from most dental clinics. Dental Implants are in another league altogether and may cost $5K+ per tooth and tens of thousands of dollars for a full arch. Some Australians are accessing their superannuation early to pay for new teeth and there is a whole new financing sub-industry facilitating this downunder.

Toothless and missing teeth are facts of life for many and dealing with this is an ongoing, sometimes, painful reality. There are few truly happy endings, as Bette Davis famously said, “old age aint for sissies.” Talk to your dentist about your options if you are in this camp. Weighing up your options is always best done with all the facts on the table.

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Note: All content and media on the Bacchus Marsh Dental House website and social media channels are created and published online for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.

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